5:10am and away we go once again after our final night in New Orleans for a few days rest and relaxation after what has been a very busy 7 weeks or so. The shuttle arrived bang on time and got us to the airport in good time. Our flight to Orlando was via Atlanta and also meant having a 3 hour stop over, which wasn't too bad as it allowed us time to get something to eat and drink. We arrived at our Motel sometime later that afternoon, the weather was steaming and the forecast was for it to continue that way hovering between 86 and 94 degrees Fahrenheit (30 to 34 degrees Centigrade). We stayed at this place for two days just lazing around the pool as we had to wait until the 23rd before we could go to the condo that I had booked for 9 nights.

We arranged for a cab from the motel to take us the short journey down the road and at first couldn’t get in to the condo or apartment as I will now call it because the cleaner was busy doing her stuff, so we just left our luggage there and went off to get some food and see what was around

. The apartment is on a gated complex and ours was on the third floor. It has three double bedrooms a kitchen diner/living room area and two bathrooms. It also had use of a swimming pool and fitness room, although I didn’t find the time to use that. There was also a pool/games room to use on the complex. I managed to get this for just £200 for the nine nights with the sole intention of just chilling out and basically not doing anything so as to recharge my batteries for the final part of the adventure. http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p400808?cid=E_hrownerinquiry_DB_O_20110408_propID_link_LPROP_1

We were based just a short walk from the 'I 192’ so could get buses to the Old Town or into Walt Disney if we wanted and also to get groceries. There were local shops and eateries close by but just for everyday stuff, or if we wanted to eat out. The plan was not to eat out but to get some salads and fresh fruit for a change and that is what we did for the main part. We did venture out to the Old town to have a look but that was just a fairground, shops and bars that looked pretty shabby and we also had a day out at Epcot as that was the easiest thing to get to by bus. We did want to go to Universal and see the new Harry Potter thing (well Sue did) but that meant 2 hours just getting there by bus so we didn’t bother. For Epcot we thought we would get our tickets from the local touts, saving around $54; however that meant that we may have problems getting in as these had been used by others so we would have to say that the tickets got mixed up and that we had been in a big party, something along those lines anyway

. I was hopeless with worry about this as I just hate the thought of being caught out and trying to explain things by lying. The problem is that when entering you have to place your finger as if having your finger print taken. I was wondering how the hell we were going to use someone else’s ticket with their finger print. Sue went first as she was braver than me and hers went green and she was through, I don’t know how but it did, ok my turn and you’ve guessed, it went red, I was asked to place my finger in again and still the same result. I used the excuses mentioned before and said that we would have to forget it but the guy said that he could alter it but I would have to sign the back and that the other people in the party may have problems so to warn them. In we went then laughing as we knew it would be me that got caught. We couldn’t however work out how Sue got in and were just relieved she did or other questions may have been asked and more difficult to explain. It turns out that it isn’t finger prints that are taken as that is illegal but it is the size of finger that is first used, which explains why some get in and others have problems.

Epcot itself didn’t seem to have changed since we went 11 years ago and that was pretty disappointing, however we did have a good day out, which made a change from just reading, sunbathing and swimming

. The highlight for Sue was going on the racetrack testing, which she really enjoyed. Mine was a couple of nice pints of bass and Guinness. The journey home was a pain as the bus never turned up on time and people were getting a little annoyed after a long day and night as the time now was 10pm. One bus driver offered to take us on the route as the other hadn’t turned up but as we all boarded the later one arrived and we were all asked to get off and board the correct one. The rest of the time we were here was just spent doing nothing except resting, preparing for the next part and fighting off the dammed love bugs, these can be read by googling love bugs, which are basically a female and a male bug joined together mating for about 12 hours, whilst flying around annoying everyone. There are millions of them and they only arrive for about 5 weeks at this time of the year and then later nearer Autumn.

The time resting and not driving everywhere allowed me the time to plan our visit to travel around Florida, to visit places such as the Space Centre, Palm Beach, Florida Keys, Key West, Miami, The Everglades, Naples, and St Petersburg. We pick our car up on the 2nd May and return to Orlando Airport on the 11th May to fly to New York for our last four nights there before coming back home.

Comments

Dad
on May 2, 2011 at 02:25AM

Looks like you've had another great time. That's quite a place you got for the money! Noticed you by passed the Fitness room; nice excuse! Tickets at a $54 saving; was it worth it? That's a funny story about the machine turning red....... bet your face went the same colour. Sounds like you both had a good laugh over that episode. I've also watched some videos about love bugs! At least they didn't seem to bite people. Enjoy your car trip.

steph
on May 4, 2011 at 10:53PM

nice apartment, good deal you managed. trust you to get caught out dad, and i always knew mum was the bravest haha xx